Local musicians wow JFK Center crowd

A string orchestra of local elementary students will return next year to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

They will have big shoes to fill – their own.

Last week, more than 1,000 Kennedy Center patrons gave a standing ovation after 15 students from Yorba Linda's Heritage Oak Private Education performed at the Festival of Gold Encore Concert. The students, 8 to 10 years old, were competing against high school musicians.

"They're still developing their little pinkies, so I never thought we'd be invited back," said Orchestra Director Tammy Yi, 29.

It was a long day for the young musicians, with a clinic with a strings specialist in the morning and their performance of Mozart's String Quartet No. 15 in D minor at 9:30 p.m.

"We were backstage and some of them were falling asleep," Yi said.

The long day paid off when three judges announced that Heritage Oak had tied for first with a Georgia high school.

"One of the judges actually said in one of the comments, 'I close my eyes and I hear 20-year-olds playing,' " Yi said.

Heritage Oak secured its spot to play at the Kennedy Center by winning first place at the Heritage Festival in Anaheim last year. The students have only been playing with Yi for two years.